Buried
by Zako Lord of Randomnessness
Summary: "Care to explain what happened?" "You know me, sir. Never really learned to run away from the explosions."


**This story is set a few years into the future of the universe (Not sure of the exact numbers, but more than five, since Wally West is the Flash, and in my head he takes up that title at the age of twenty) and a world in which Artemis has been forced into hiding. Implied Roy/Jade and Artemis/Wally.**

**This kind of snuck up on me during my finals week. I think it's because it's currently two am that I feel ok about posting something for the first time in forever. It's unbeta-ed so forgive any small mistakes. If there's a glaring error, let me know and I'll try to make the edits that I can. I**

**I do not own these characters.**

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><p>No one had even known she was in the fight until they were sifting through the rubble, looking for survivors. No one had seen the striking blonde pull a collapsible cross bow from her oversized purse and rush from the café where she was supposed to have been meeting a friend before the attack had come. She'd run against the flow of the fleeing population and found herself in a war zone dressed in business casual and the ridiculous heels that would only do her good if she chose to use them as the stiletto knife for which they had been named. Her hair had been pulled back from her face in a ponytail that would have made the Flash's heart stop for a moment in aching familiarity if he had seen her join the fray. Red Arrow and Green Arrow were across town, so someone should have noticed when the aliens started being dropped by a sniper armed with cross bow bolts, but no one had.<p>

Someone, besides the baseline archer who, if she were to be honest with herself, shouldn't have even been there, should have also seen the scared little girl hiding in the top floor of the building across the street that was about to collapse, but they hadn't, and so Artemis had swung over with the grappling hook she had carried with her for years, just in case, gathered the crying girl into her arms, murmuring nonsense words of comforts that might very well have been a Vietnamese lullaby if she had spared the attention to register. They were almost to the stair case when Artemis felt something in the stories above them give, and as the ceiling and the floor or so above began to crumble around them, she dove under a sturdy looking desk tucked in the corner of the room and curled her own body protectively around the child who she tucked against the corner, away from falling debris.

In near solid darkness that followed the quiet after the collapse, the air was thick with dust, and the little girl's sniffling. Artemis could see nothing, but from the way the space around her filled with moans when she tried to shift positions, she would almost be willing to bet that was at least partially holding up the ceiling. She felt a cough trying to force its way up through her throat but she refused to let it out, worried about what it would do to the structural integrity of their small hollow.

"You okay, kid?" She managed when the urge to cough had subsided. She could taste copper in her mouth and hoped that she wasn't too badly injured. Her legs were starting to go numb, and her arms would probably give out if she was forced to stay here too long, but it was nothing she couldn't tolerate for a bit longer if it meant keeping the kid alive.

"Scared," the child whispered into the dark. A hand bumped into Artemis's knees, and the girl was suddenly cuddling against her. "I don't like the dark."

"It'll be ok. Don't worry. I'm a superhero."

"You don't look like a superhero." The little girl muttered authoritatively. Artemis resisted the urge to chuckle.

"Not anymore. But I used to. I've been laying low." She shifted back, hoping she might be able to let herself sit. The rubble shifted some but she was at least out of the half-crouch. Something was digging into the general vicinity of her spleen, and she was pretty sure the back of her head was bleeding, but there was no way to know until she had some light, and that wouldn't happen until they were found

If they were found, the nasty cynical part of her brain whispered

"Why would you do that?" the girl asked.

"Batman thought it was for the best." Artemis grimaced at the memory, but she really shouldn't be parading around with a bright green arrow printed across her chest like a target given the fact that half the League of Shadows wanted her dead as revenge the captures of Sportsmaster and Chesire, and the other half wanted her dead simply because she knew too much about the Shadows to be allowed to wander free, especially if she was working for the "enemy." It would have been the actions of a complete idiot to go about existing in the public eye with that kind of hatred riding on the line.

"You know Batman?" The little girl asked after a second, as if she had blinked her eyes rapidly in the attempt to process the information about the stranger who was currently the only other voice in the darkness.

"Yep." She popped her 'p' knowing that it would likely amuse the girl, even if the kid couldn't see her smiling. "What's your name, kid?'

"Lian."

"Where're your parents, Lian?"

"Daddy works here. I was visiting his office when the aliens attacked. He said I would be safe here." She sniffed a bit. "I don't really have a mommy though. Well, I do, but Daddy says that Mommy told _him _that it would be too dangerous for me if she was actually my mommy, so Daddy just does it by his– himself. Not all by himself. I have Uncles and Aunties who help him. And Gramma and Grampa watch me sometimes, but they're all busy right now."

"They left you here by yourself?" Who the hell were these people, and when could she report them to child services.

"Well, they're helping. It's too dangerous for me to help yet. Daddy says I can help when I'm older if I'm good and I eat my vegetables. I hate vegetables."

"Wanna know a secret?" Artemis whispered conspiratorially Lian.

"What?"

"I hated vegetables, too. But I ate them anyway because my mom told me the same thing."

"And?" Lian demanded, bouncing a little and jostling a knee that may or may not have been severely bruised by the rubble. "What happened?"

"I got strong enough to help people, obviously." Artemis chuckles a little reaching out to squeeze Lian's hand in her own, though the movement shifts the rubble behind her again. They were at least a story down from the roof when the building had collapsed above them. They would have to get outside help, and she couldn't hear if the battle was still going on outside. It was much too muffled by the detritus of the collapse. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"What's your name?"

"Artemis."

"Artemis?"

"She was a Greek Goddess. Very good with a bow and arrow, like me."

"You're an archer?" Lian was bouncing again. She was a very bouncy child, especially for one buried under several yards of rubble with a complete stranger. Happy was good all things considered, bouncing less so.

"Sure am. One of the best."

Artemis lost track of the conversation after that, only knowing that she talked until her mouth and throat went bone dry and then she kept talking, because Lian got upset whenever she fell silent in the darkness. It might have been hours, it might have been days, but eventually, Artemis fell into murmuring to the girl in a hoarse whisper about stories of adventures she had been on, though she slipped in and out of English, speaking occasionally in her native Vietnamese as well as the French her grandmother had insisted she learn. It could have been hours that they were there, and Artemis only stopped talking when she was sure that Lian had fallen asleep against her leg. Over the time she'd been there the little girl had gradually crawled closer until she was sitting in Artemis's very numb lap and listening to stories while taking in the comfort of another human being.

Artemis herself was drifting off when she heard something shift above her head, and cringed waiting for the inevitable thunderous collapse as the jenga puzzle of the wreckage over them gave way to gravity.

"Over here!" A female voice's high pitch cut through the silence that had reigned for however long they'd been there. "Two of them. They're both alive, but one's either asleep or unconcious." The speaker's voice was pitched to be heard clearly, but the layers of rocks still dampened the sound, though Artemis was surprised by how little of a barrier there seemed to be.

_Hello? _A tentative reach into her mind, a quiet call in the place that most would consider their own private place never to be invaded by someone else unless in very distressing and uninvited circumstances. For Artemis, the half-familiar touch was one of relief. _Don't be alarmed, I'm a telepath—_

_ Skip Telepathy 101 M'Gann and tell me how long 'til we're dug out. The kid's probably dehydrated and starving. I know I am, but I can cope much longer than she can. _

_ Art—Artemis?_ The shriek in her mind is coupled with a very loud exclamation that probably said the same thing, but she can't be sure, because her mind is blinking with little bright spots from the Martian's mental volume

_Geez. Cool it Miss Martian. You'll wake Lian. _

_You—Of course you have Lian. Leave it to you. _There was great deal more relief than Artemis would have expected.

_Take it you know her then? Sweet kid. Very brave. A lot like her dad._

_How—?_

_ Don't worry about it right now. Now get me out of here. Lian's fine, but I'd much rather we were out when she woke up. I'm also pretty sure my head's bleeding, but it's hard to check without having stuff behind me cave in on us_.

When Artemis emerged from the rubble still wearing the once pristine green wool coat (only a little torn on the edges) and the pleated slacks (now crinkled and dusty beyond recognition) she nearly laughed to realize that her dark green stilettos were in almost perfect condition, but that would have woken the child in her arms who had managed to sleep through Supergirl herself clearing away the last of the rubble that had blocked the way to Artemis and Lian's safe zone. Some light had been leaking in once the better part of the rubble had been cleared away, but still, it had hurt when the last major block had been cleared away and the late afternoon sun had come streaming in. Artemis had turned from the half crouched position she had occupied for the better part of her day and swallowed back the cry of pain as every single muscle in her body complained. Lian had stirred, but curled tighter into the warm wool of Artemis's coat, clutching at the blonde archer's sleeve, even has Kara had moved to help them from the safe place under the desk.

"That is—" Artemis had started to say, only to be hit with a coughing fit that woke Lian up more than the light and noise had, but not by much more. Someone tried to take the girl from her, but she shook her head as her eyes watered against the sunlight. She straightened when she'd finished for the moment and grinned at the somewhat worried looking Supergirl. Miss Martian had apparently moved on to look for other survivors in the rubble, but that was ok, she was fairly certain they would catch up later.

"That is my favorite desk." She said when she could, taking in a deep breath of clean air. "Of all time," she adds when Kara continued to look confused. The other girl nods and seems to be trying to figure out where she knows the crazy blonde in stilettos from. It will have to wait for another time, because Red Arrow is running across the cratered street to get to them. Artemis nods to Kara and walks to meet him, stumbling a little on loose chunks of rubble, but avoiding the truly unstable piles. Lian sleeps on. Roy is looks half-way between lingering horror and relief.

"Relax, Red. She's fine." She passes Lian over to Roy with a gentle smile at the little girl who, even in sleep, seems to know her Daddy is present (finally) and releases Artemis. Roy's body reads the same, relaxing in the minute ways that only begin to wear over time. "Get her home safe for me, will you?" Artemis says for the benefit of any civilians nearby. She turns to walk away from the disaster site before anyone here can realize exactly what she's doing and stop her, but that plan fails when, taking her first step without the burden of her niece, Artemis feels her leg crumple beneath her as adrenaline gives way to exhaustion and she blacks out in the middle of the ruined city street.

The room she wakes in is white and smells like antiseptic. Hôpital. She stirs and tries to sit up, but a warm hand on her shoulder pushes her back.

"Relax," the voice says. "Doc says you're supposed to rest."

"Like you're one to talk," she mutters, her eyes closed. She's not entirely sure how it happened, but suddenly they're holding hands and all she wants to do is curl into that source of warmth.

"I'm in better shape than you are right now, so I get the authority." His chuckle is so god damn familiar that it almost aches.

"Shut up, you. I had a roof on my back for…" she starts to snap, but trails off, realizing she never found out how long they were in small hollow under the desk.

"Not sure. They didn't even start looking for people in the rubble until almost three. It took a while to get rid of them. There were a lot of them."

"I was supposed to meet Kate at nine, so it must have been around ten or so when the building collapsed, and it was still light when they found us. Late afternoon?" She asked for confirmation. Her sense of time had gotten a bit muddled and her phone had been dead before she'd even gone into the fight.

"Yeah." He sounds, sad, but she's not sure why and she really doesn't want to open her eyes because then her headache will get worse or she'll find out that this was all a dream and she's still stuck in that stupid bland apartment and she's late (again) for that stupid nine to five job that she's held since she graduated high school and found herself suddenly on the shit list of every person involved in the League of Shadows.

"What's the damage?" She asks, after the knowledge that, if it was real, then she and Lian had been trapped under the rubble for nearly eight hours. "They've got me on the good drugs, I can tell. Shame it's not helping the headache."

"Concussion, dehydration, bruising pretty much everywhere, sprained wrist, couple of dislocated ribs and some cuts. J'onn said your collapse was caused by the combined mental and physical stress. Have you been sleeping at all?"

"I'm supposed to be a civilian. Only time I have to really train is the time normally slotted for sleeping," she didn't really answer his question, didn't want to tell him that even three years later she was still having nightmares about that fight, that day, and the whole stinking mess that had ended with Batman informing her it would be better for her to go underground. That the only way she knew how to sleep was to work herself to exhaustion and then collapse long enough for a nap before she ran off to play guinea pig on the wheel for another day.

"Pretty sure you aren't expected to train as much as you used to."

"Pretty sure I'd rather stay in shape, thanks." It went unspoken, but she was fairly certain he still knew her well enough to guess that she was thinking about the day when her family would get out of prison and a few very irate Shadows would come after her. It didn't matter how well her old life is hidden, it was going to come back and bite her, and she would much rather be ready to bite back.

"You pretty much gave yourself away today." She can hear him smiling, and she feels his fingers entangling with her own. Her own smile answers his and she sighs happily, vaguely wondering what anyone thinks about one of the big shots of the JLA hanging out in the hospital room with some random girl. She opens her eyes just a crack, and sees the earth floating outside her window in the vast inky darkness of space. The Flash is smiling down at her, and though she can't see his bright green eyes, she knows Wally is just as happy to see her as she is to see him.

"Worth it," she said, as the drugs started to kick in again. Or maybe it was her own sleep-deprivation that was dragging her back into the realm of unconsciousness.

She was released from the med bay the morning after she'd woken up and was immediately summoned by Batman. It was strange to stand in front of him again in the jeans and shirt she'd borrowed from Dinah. She was wearing sunglasses to keep her identity secret and had almost laughed when she'd found them sitting on top of the pile.

Batman's stare was as intimidating as ever, but she still smiled to see him. His facial muscles twitch in what might have been a smile or a show of annoyance. It was always difficult to decipher is facial expressions or lack thereof, but she had gotten fairly decent at the task during her years with Young Justice under his command and still had advantage over many, even if she was out of practice.

"Batman," she says, schooling her features to calm seriousness "You wanted to see me?"

"Care to explain what happened?"

"You know me, sir. Never really learned to run _away_ from the explosions." She can see the amused twitch again. It has to be the amused twitch. The annoyed facial twitches usually were less smothered.

"I thought we agreed you would lay low until it was safe for you to come back."

"The group I went after was trying to come around your backs sir. I figured I could pick them off without being seen and save you the trouble. Then I saw the little girl stuck in the building across the street and I thought I should get her out of the danger zone before she got hurt. The building collapsed shortly after I was inside and then I couldn't really melt away like I had originally planned."

"You planned?" It's sarcasm and she snorts a bit.

"For about a half-second."

"Welcome back, Artemis." He's definitely suppressing a smile now. She's not that oblivious.

"Good to be back, sir."


End file.
